


Hey Stranger

by scrambledfandoms



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Barista AU, Barista!Sirius, College AU, M/M, Modern AU, Muggle AU, Non-magical AU, coffee shop AU, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 22:24:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11953908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrambledfandoms/pseuds/scrambledfandoms
Summary: Remus Lupin thinks he spots the long, black hair of his friend, Dorcas Meadowes, on a crowded street in London. He is mistaken.





	1. Chapter 1

Remus Lupin skillfully navigated the familiar streets of London on the way to his favourite café; Lavender Crème.  
The narrow stone sidewalks were heavily crowded with people milling about. Many shops were packed full of people bustling around doing weekend shopping. It was very easy for one to get caught up in the tidal waves of bodies passing by, but after so many years, Remus had grown used to it.  
After checking his phone for the time; 13:08pm, Remus put it back in his book bag and hefted the strap higher up onto his shoulder.

A few more minutes of walking passed before Remus noticed a familiar head of long, black hair; hunched over a phone as the owner attached to it shuffled through the crowd.  
Remus had not seen Dorcas Meadowes in nearly two months. So when he shouldered past people to get to her, after shouting "Hey stranger!" by way of greeting, he did not realize that maybe, just maybe, it was not a good idea to wrap his arms around this person.

His embrace was met by the other persons' body tensing and flinching backwards. Odd, Remus thought as he pulled back to examine what might be the problem. The sight he was met with was not what he had anticipated. For one, he expected to see a face of pain or discomfort, not an expression of amused shock. Secondly, he was very surprised to see that this person had facial hair. Last of all, he didn't expect to be incredibly attracted to the man standing at arms length.  
The handsome stranger chuckled at the expression of complete and utter horror that had fallen across Remus' face.

"I assume I'm not the person you thought I was?" The stranger said after a moment.  
"I- Erm- No, I'm afraid not. Sorry." Remus spluttered out intelligently.  
The stranger smirked at Remus' awkward response. "No need to apologize," he smirked "My name is Sirius, by the way, Sirius Black." The man- Sirius- extended his hand to Remus as he introduced himself. Remus took the hand offered and shook it a bit flimsily whilst he introduced himself. "Remus Lupin," was all he managed to get out.  
Did you really have to embarrass yourself with the most beautiful person in the vicinity? Remus thought as Sirius withdrew his own hand.

"Well, Remus Lupin," Sirius said Remus' name in an almost mocking way, but, it was strangely endearing. "I have one question for you,"  
Sirius must have seen the expression of panic that quickly took over Remus features because; he smirked. And it should have been irritating to Remus that Sirius was amused by his internal struggle but no. He couldn't be annoyed when that smirk was so sexy.  
After Remus realized he hadn't responded to Sirius words in any other way than looking fearful, he nodded his head in encouragement for Sirius to continue.  
"Do you have a brother called Romulus?" Sirius asked cheekily.

All the tension left Remus' body and was instantly replaced by annoyance.  
"Are you serious?" Remus regretted the sentence immediately after vocalizing it.  
"In every sense of the word," Sirius grinned. "No, but really, do you?"  
"No, I don't. As you can tell, my parents weren't the best with names." Remus answered in mock disdain.  
"Yeah, I can see that, Werewolf McWerewolf." Sirius quipped.  
"You're one to talk, Dog Star." Remus scoffed.  
Sirius let out a bark of laughter, "Oh what a pair we'd make."

The tips of Remus' ears reddened at the implication of Sirius' words and he averted his eyes to the stones beneath his feet.  
What was this gorgeous man doing, stopping in the middle of the street, to have a conversation with him?  With Remus.  
Before Remus could get think too much on this, his inner monologue was interrupted by Sirius voice.

"Where are you off to?" he asked.  
"Oh, I was just going to get some tea while I study." Remus had completely forgotten about the warm and floral scented café he was supposed to be in at this very moment.  
"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm wasting your time," Sirius made a move to leave but Remus stopped him. He wasn't sure why, but, he didn't want this stranger to go just yet.  
"No, no, it's fine, really. Where are you headed?" Remus tried to keep the conversation going.  
Sirius did not seem too keen on leaving just then, anyways. "I'm just walking home from work," he said "I was actually just texting my flatmate when you . . ." Sirius trailed off, eyes flickering between Remus and himself, glinting with amusement.  
"Er- Sorry about that, again." Remus' cheeks heated up at the embarrassing memory of himself pouncing on Sirius.  
"Like I said before, no need to apologize, Moony."

Moony? Remus thought.  
"Moony?" he then asked aloud.  
It was Sirius' turn to be embarrassed. "Yeah, because, Remus . . . Lupin. Wolves. And werewolves. They howl at the moon. Get it?" he explained awkwardly.

Remus scoffed at the lack of creativity. "Seri- Really?"  
Sirius grinned at the last-second correction in Remus' sentence.  
"Yes. Moony. I like it." Sirius confirmed.  
Remus rolled his eyes although he got a strange, fluttering feeling in his chest when Sirius used the newly discovered nickname. "Not very clever." he thought aloud.  
"I am plenty clever, thank you very much!" Sirius defended himself dramatically whilst sticking his nose into the air.  
"I'm sure." Remus replied, thoroughly unconvinced.  
Sirius flipped his hair over his shoulder and huffed before bluntly stating, "You wound me, Moony."

Remus wrinkled his nose at the nickname. It was becoming more and more insufferable each time Sirius addressed him with it.  
"Why the sour face, Moonlight?" Sirius asked innocently.  
"Oh don't even start," Remus whined, hanging his head.  
"Start what, Moonshine?"  
Remus sighed in defeat. At least he would only have to deal with that awful nickname for the rest of this conversation.

Suddenly the thought hit him; how much longer will this conversation be? Would he ever speak to Sirius after today? Would Remus ever even see him after this interaction was over? Different variations of these questions started flooding Remus' mind, invading all other thought and distracting him from the world around him. He must have been fairly out-of-it because he was pulled out of his thoughts and back into the world around him by Sirius snapping his fingers in front of Remus' face.

"Remus? Hello? Remus! Did you even hear what I said?" Sirius asked.  
"Sorry, I got lost in thought. What was that?" Remus apologized.  
"I was just saying, I should get going and let you get some work done," Sirius repeated.  
"Right. Yes. Of course." Remus replied after properly hearing Sirius this time.  
"Well, it's been real. See you around, Moony!" Sirius shouted over his shoulder as he weaved quickly through the crowd. Remus groaned at the nickname and turned to yell at Sirius' back.

"I don't even have your number!"


	2. You Again

It had been a week since "The Sirius Incident" as Remus was calling it in his mind.  
The next few days following said event consisted of Remus finding himself thinking about a certain black-haired man much more frequently than he would have liked to admit.  
On more than one occasion Remus caught himself staring off at nothing in particular whilst he was lost in thoughts and images of Sirius. After snapping out of moments like these Remus would internally scold himself. You'll never see him again, get over it.  
It had taken the better part of the week for Remus to dwindle any and all Sirius-centric thoughts down to a minimum.

Remus was, once again, taking his familiar route to Lavender Crème. Although, today was slightly different. Remus had left his flat an hour earlier than usual. He had gotten a better-than-most sleep the night before and felt refreshed and productive.  
Remus had done a load of washing, made a proper breakfast, reorganized his desk, and even lazed around with his cat, Minerva, for a little while before he left to do his usual Saturday afternoon studying at the café.  
Remus also had a five page history essay he was quite looking forward to writing at the café today. He found the topic very interesting and figured he knew enough on it already to be able to efficiently write this essay as well as maybe even make it interesting.

Remus fished his phone out of his book bag to check the time, out of habit; 12:04pm. He really was making excellent time today. As his eyes flickered down to see the numbers on the screen, his feet dragged slightly and he scuffed the tip of his left shoe.

Remus managed to make it to Lavender Crème by 12:11pm.  
As Remus entered the warm establishment he heard the tinkle of a small overhead bell announcing his arrival. As he got  into the line, waiting to order along with the seven other patrons ahead of him, he scanned over the tables covering the hardwood floors of the café around him, trying to spot a head of fiery red hair.

Lily Evans was Remus' best friend. She had been for years. Lily and Remus had known each other all their lives.  
Their parents were coworkers which resulted in the two of them going on many playdates to each others' houses as children. This went on until they became best friends at the age of  eight.

At one point, when they were teenagers, they even experimented with their relationship by going on a few dates to see if they could love each other romantically as opposed to just platonically.  
This idea was quickly scrapped when the two of them realized that Remus was a flaming queer and they really just were not attracted to each other. Although it was awkward for a short while after that, the best friends quickly sorted themselves out and got back into their old ways.

Currently, Remus and Lily were sharing a flat. Lily payed her half of the expenses by working here, at Lavender Crème, while Remus did weekday shifts at a second-hand book shop to pay his. It was a good system they had that they were both very happy with.

As Remus did another once-over of the room, a few employees greeted him while they rushed around brining green  tea lattes and espresso shots to caffeine deficient university students. He finally spotted what he was looking for and called "Lily!" a bit louder than he had intended.

Lily's high ponytail flicked into her eyes as she whipped her head around. She smiled at Remus and held up her finger, wait one moment, before loading up a tray with steaming mugs to deliver to the customers in her section.  
When the tray was empty once again, Lily returned it to the counter and wiped her hands on her apron. She scurried towards Remus with a tired smile on her face.

"Busy?" Remus asked.  
"Very." Lily replied with a sigh, although the smile did not leave her face.  
Remus grinned back at her. He knew Lily liked keeping busy, she loved her work. Her mood may have also been improved by the fact that she made very good tips.

"I just called you over to say hello, I don't want you to get behind, go back to work," Remus said with a noncommittal wave of his hand.  
Lily just beamed and leaned up to give Remus a peck on the cheek before bustling away again.

By this point, Remus was now the second person in the line and four new costumers had come in behind him. After the young woman ahead of him finished ordering a "caramel macchiato, to go" he stepped up to the till and was surprised to see a new yet familiar face.

"Sirius?"  
"Moony?"  
Remus groaned. Yes, this was definitely Sirius.  
"You work here?" Remus asked after getting over his initial shock and annoyance.  
"Have been for the last few months, yeah," Sirius answered.

"How have I never seen you here before?"  
Remus was completely bewildered. He had been coming here every Saturday afternoon at around 13:00pm ever since Lily had started working here, which was just over a year ago. He had not once crossed paths with Sirius. That is, until a week ago, but that was in the middle of the street. Of course, the man of my dreams has been right under my nose this whole time!

"Dunno. What can I get you?" Sirius interrupted Remus' rambling brain.  
"Oh! Right- Can I get a large chai tea latte with extra cinnamon and a chocolate croissant, for here, please?" 

Remus spoke the order like it was the most natural thing in the world. He had been getting this exact same thing every Saturday for the past year, ordering it was like breathing.  
"Absolutely," Sirius tapped all the necessary buttons on the screen in front of him before continuing "That'll be-"  
He was cut off by Remus handing him the money, with exact change.  
"Yeah, that," Sirius grinned "I'll bring your order over as soon as it's ready. Just go ahead and find a seat."  
"Thank you," Remus said before walking over to his favourite table in the corner by the window. It must have been by some miracle that it was not already taken.  
Remus pulled out one of the chairs at the two-person table and sunk into it. He slung his book bag over the back of it and pulled out his laptop along with his history textbook.

Not a long while later; Sirius, as promised, came by with Remus' latte and pastry. He set them down gently, to the right of Remus' laptop, before poking his head over Remus' shoulder.

"What're you writing?" Sirius asked curiously.  
"History essay." Remus replied distractedly; whether it was because he was too engrossed in his essay or because a few stray hairs from Sirius messy bun were tickling his neck, he was not sure.  
"Nerd." Sirius poked.  
"Shut up." Remus said, smiling, without looking up from his screen.

After a moment of Sirius just breathing in Remus' ear and reading over his shoulder, Sirius spoke up again.

"I get off in . . ." he glanced at the clock on the wall over the counter "Twenty minutes."  
"Huh?" Remus responded eloquently.  
"I was thinking we could catch up once my shift is over," Sirius explained.  
"Oh! Yes. Sure." Remus agreed.

"It's a date!"

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work so, please comment what you think. Good and/or bad. Constructive criticism is always welcome.


End file.
